Communion

Acknowledgments

I have been privileged to have the help of many accomplished members of the scientific community. I wish to thank Donald F. Klein, MD, director of research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and professor of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, for his expert hypnosis. Dr. Robert Naiman was kind enough to provide similar support for my wife. Dr. John Gliedman offered skilful scientific evaluation of my ideas, and his own essential contributions. Dr. David Webb, recently a member of the National Commission on Space and presently professor and chairman of space studies at the Center for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota, and Dr. Brian O'Leary, astronaut and planetologist, provided insights that combined expert knowledge, healthy skepticism, and a firm adherence to the known, without which I could never have completed my task. Dr. Bruce Maccabee, research physicist with the United States Navy, read my manuscript for its physics content, but any errors in this area remain my own. David M.

Jacobs, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Temple University, was kind enough to offer his comments as well, with special reference to historical background.

I would especially like to thank Budd Hopkins, who has sacrificed an enormous amount of time and effort — often approaching the heroic — for myself and those like me who have been dragged to the edge of reality.

The assistance of the physicians and scientists who have advised me does not imply that they support my conclusions, such as they are, about what happened to me. Their interest arises from a desire to study what appears to be an unknown or misunderstood phenomenon.

To the scientific community, the nature of this phenomenon remains an unresolved question.